Grilled Potatoes

One of my favorite dishes for the summertime is a recipe I posted last year ~ Jamaican Jerk Chicken. Today I would like to share with you a side dish that I serve quite frequently throughout the summer ~ Grilled Potatoes. You will need aluminum foil, potatoes, onions, spices of choice, and a fat of choices (olive oil, bacon grease, butter, etc.), pan spray, hot grill, grill mitts, and a hearty appetite.

You can make small individual packets, or a couple large packets if preparing for a large group.

Wash the potatoes and slice thin ~ skin and all! If you aren't into eating the skins, then peel them before slicing. Put potato in bowl. Slice onion (if you dice they will over cook too fast) and add to potato. Add spices of choice (now would be a good time to add salt & pepper, too). I prefer Mrs. Dash because it is salt-free and I strive to limit my sodium intake because of hypertension. Add fat of choice (olive oil, bacon grease, butter, etc.) and mix together.

I prefer to spray the tin foil before placing potatoes and forming packets. HINT: Shiny side of tin foil IN helps radiate the heat through the food. :) To form packets I place one sheet of tin foil shiny side up, spray with cooking spray, add potatoes, place another sheet of foil shiny side down that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Then I begin to fold in sides until the packet is sealed up nicely. Smaller packets will take less time to cook than larger packets.

After all of the packets are ready, it's off to the hot grill (I prefer the old fashioned charcoal grills, not the gas grills but you can achieve the same results on a gas grill with a little tweaking). You will want to turn the packets every 10 minutes. These cook up relatively quickly ~ 20-30 minutes. I pull a packet off the grill and give a gently squeeze with the mitts to see if the potatoes are soft yet. These packets can be set aside while you cook the meat of choice.

You can add other veggies to the potatoes (peppers, peas, etc.) ~ experiment and have fun! I have found that cheese melts and holds up better when sprinkled as a garnish after the spuds have been cooked. Cooking the potatoes this way keeps the heat out of the kitchen, and you can personalize each packet for individual preferences (ie: onions or no onions).

Happy Grilling!